11:55 PM,
Jan. 22, 2013

Reds fans cheer as they watch the team clinch the division on the large screen TV at Fountain Square during Oktoberfest.

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No one disputes that it will be great for Cincinnati's image when it hosts Major League Baseball's All-Star Game in 2015 - and that tourists and convention planners almost certainly will be taking notes.

But will the game bring $60 million or more to the local economy? Economists say measuring the event's direct economic impact is difficult. They also add that numbers projecting the boon from an All-Star Game and similar events are often inflated.

"It's tough to put a dollar figure on anything," said Joel Maxcy, a sports economist at Temple University. "But it'll be like one big advertisement ...